


how the kronos stole a birthday

by thislilalien



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Gen, He's not dead, Hercules is a jerk, I still am in denial, Jason will not die, M/M, Reading the Books, Reading the Last Olympian, Time Travel, an absolute asshole, and also, change my mind, i dare you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:49:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28454151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thislilalien/pseuds/thislilalien
Summary: After the Seven and their friends were done with the war, they thought it was over. No more catastrophes, no more wars, and hopefully, no more death and dying. You know, your average wish of a lifetime.But the Fates have seen it all, and know that a death is coming that cannot be prevented.Unless, of course, the gods (+1 hero of their time with an oversized ego) learn from their mistakes, in which case, the inevitable may not be so inevitable.(in other words, another "reading the books" fic, except they're readingThe Last Olympianinstead of starting atThe Lightning Thief)
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 34
Kudos: 93





	1. where everything starts (and thalia and annabeth figure it all out)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say, but just, I guess, keep in mind that this takes place after BoO, and before ToA.  
> The timeline here will be a little messed up.  
> Leo and Calypso will have arrived a little earlier than canon, for plot reasons, and Solangelo will have already become a thing™.

The Fates knew where things were going, and how things would be going. They controlled everything, after all.

But Atropos, for once, didn’t want to cut a string, didn’t want for fate to catch up to someone. Of course, Lachesis had measured said string out and all, but Atropos knew that this person’s death was not necessary. His death was caused by the gods (isn’t it always them?), he died next to a god that was powerless to help, he died as a result of his father casting said god down from Olympus.

Death wasn’t ever fair, but for a hero that had saved Olympus, dying in such a manner? It wasn’t acceptable.

And so, one night, alongside her sisters, Atropos hatched a plan that would hopefully change the world for the better.

-

The day would have turned out fine, really, if Percy had a say in it. He had, after all, started the Saturday with a party and some minor explosions.

But naturally, he didn’t have any say, so his day sucked.

One moment, he was joking around with his friends for their “Argo II Reunion Party,” then the next, he was flopped into the throne room of Olympus, with all of his friends _on top of him,_ all of them floundering around, trying to get to their feet, and generally acting like fish out of water.

Percy was really starting to hate his life.

Surprisingly, it was Hestia who spoke first, once they all got up, breaking the silence. “Are you the heroes that we were told would come, alongside our greatest current one?” 

She gestured vaguely in the direction of Zeus in answer to some of their questioning expressions, and standing next to the king’s throne with a smug smile, was no other than the “greatest hero of all times,” Hercules, if you considered “greatest hero of all times,” to be the “greatest backstabber and rudest hero to ever exist.”

Next to him, Piper grimaced and gripped the hilt of Katoptris.

“Greatest jerk of all times,” she muttered, her voice low enough to only reach him and his friends, voicing Percy’s thoughts exactly. _We are definitely getting back at him some time for Zoe and for that time we were at the Pillars of Hercules._

Annabeth smiled grimly, but her gaze flickered towards Hercules. “I’d believe we are,” she said politely in response to Hestia’s question.

Zeus nodded, seemingly accepting her answer. “You’ll have to introduce yourselves then, no titles, assuming that they will be revealed later. All we were told by the Fates to do was to summon all twelve Olympians, Hercules,” at this, an expression of pride swept across his face, “and to await a group of 11 heroes, each with apparently greater accomplishments than Hercules himself,” Zeus ended sourly.

_Ah, that explains a lot. We time travelled, which also explains Zeus’ face._

All eyes turned towards Jason, perhaps sensing somehow that he was the rightful leader of the group as a son of Jupiter. Jason sent Percy a look, like _help, I’m not the leader and have no clue what to do._

Percy shrugged in response.

“I’m Jason Grace,” Jason began. “Son of,” he paused as if not able to say what he wanted to say, scowling at the ground, “Zeus.”

“I’m Perseus 'Percy' Jackson, son of Poseidon.”

“Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena.” At this, several gods gasped, presumably about the prospect of a maiden goddess having children.

“Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite.”

“Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, and the one and only flaming ho-” Leo was cut off by a smack upside the head, courtesy of Piper and Annabeth.

“Frank Zhang, son of M-” Frank was cut off by something, and after a lot of hand waving, settled for, “Ares.”

“Hazel Levesque, daughter of,” she paused carefully, “Hades.”

“Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, daughter of-” Reyna sighed. “I guess I can’t say my godly parent.” That raised a few eyebrows, Hercules’ especially, but they quickly disappeared.

“Grover Underwood, satyr, and current Lor-”

“Thalia, daughter of Zeus and current Lieutenant of Artemis,” Thalia muttered, as if daring anyone to try and guess her last name. At this, Artemis smiled.

“Nico di Angelo, son of Hades.”

“Rachel Dare, clear sighted mortal, and current Or-” Rachel was cut off, like most of the others, and settled for a sigh. “That’s all of us, I believe.”

Zeus nodded. “A lot of your introductions seem to have these ‘spoilers,’ as the Fates said,” he mused, and Percy exchanged a mystified look with Annabeth. _Spoilers? As in movies and TV shows and the dreaded books?_

His thoughts were cut off by Zeus. “And I’d assume that you already know who _he_ is,” the king of the gods said, waving a hand towards Hercules.

Percy nodded, squashing the urge to hit Hercules in the face, trying to hide his smile at Artemis’ disgusted expression.

Zeus studied them for a long moment. “Do you have any clue as to why you are here?”

Percy, along with all his friends, gave him a blank look.

Hestia, from her position at the hearth, raised a hand. “These appeared shortly after you finished your introductions.” Percy followed her gaze towards something near the fire, and gritted his teeth almost instantly. 

_Books._

Annabeth voiced all of their thoughts. “Books?”

Hestia stared at one of the books for a second. “Not just any books. One of them has a note on it, probably from the fates _._ ” She peeled the sticky note off of the cover, and held it up for all to see. “The note says, ‘Read these, as they will give you a new perspective on the lives of demigods, and will give you, the gods, along with Hercules, a chance to learn humility, and the chance to prevent a death. Start with _The Last Olympian._ ”

Percy’s eyes widened almost comically, and he chose to ignore the rest of the note in favour of his thoughts. “As in the Battle of Manhattan,” he stated.

Annabeth, Nico, Thalia, Grover, and Rachel seemed to understand. “You don’t think…” Rachel trailed off, tapping her face thoughtfully.

Thalia grinned, “If it’s about the war that we’re thinking of, then it'll most likely be about that battle, which means it’s going to be from the point of view of the person who was there for most of the ride.”

Thalia paused.

“The hero,” she said dramatically, “who is greater than even Hercules!”

He frowned. “Uh, Thals?”

Thalia’s grin seemed to become even wider. “It’s from yours, Kelpy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it begins!  
> (help, i'm not qualified and need to take greek mythology lessons again!)
> 
> Keep in mind that Hercules is in that time period between his finishing of his 12 labours and fighting the giants.  
> Also keep in mind that I have no idea what I'm doing, and that I don't know when hercules fought in the war with the giants, nor do I know if that was before or after his completion of his 12 labours.  
> (if I'm wrong, then just. it's before the first giant war, whenever that may be)  
> (any help would be greatly appreciated!)  
> (because google is not helping matters at all!)
> 
> For anyone who likes historical accuracy, I'm sorry, but I have no sense of history, have forgotten most of the Iliad and Odyssey, and the door is over there.  
> (again, I'm sorry for the butchering I'm about to do to Greek Mythology)


	2. where shit goes down (and hercules decides that maybe what he did to zoe wasn't the best)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we go cruising with explosives  
> (oh no)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer for the whole fic:  
> i do not own anything  
> all rights belong to uncle rick  
> and the bolded stuff is the stuff from the books that i will be using (not in full, because that's how ao3 works)  
> (i hope ive left enough for ya'll to get the gist of it but feel free to use a book to read along if you want)
> 
> and also, sorry for the long wait, BUT  
> its a fucking 9 to 10k word piece so  
> i may or may not have caught all my grammar mistakes and stuff  
> (+ all the random line breaks and stuff, so feel free to tell me somehow, idk)

“I’ll read first,” Poseidon volunteered once all the demigods were comfortably seated, even though he was surprised at how comfortable the demigods seemed around the gods. He was looking forward to reading in the point of view of a demigod son of his, whose power seemed to rival that of Hercules’. _Maybe I’ll get bragging rights over Zeus, finally._

He took a breath before starting. 

**I GO CRUISING WITH EXPLOSIVES**

At this, Percy gave a start, and his face scrunched up miserably.

**The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car.**

Poseidon glanced at Percy, who was joking around with some of his friends like nothing had ever happened. _What doomsday starts with a pegasus? And what the heck is a car?_

Athena, ever one for more knowledge, leaned forward, her gaze on her daughter. “What is this ‘car’ that is mentioned?”

Annabeth, who was leaning against Percy (and drawing an irritated eye twitch from her mother in the process), hummed thoughtfully. “How would I describe it… It’s sort of like a metal chariot that, instead of being powered by horses, is powered by an engine and some machinery.”

Hephaestus looked up from something he was tinkering with. “It sounds interesting,” he remarked.

“Can we just get on with reading?” Zeus asked, his voice making it clear that he didn’t particularly care one way or another.

 **Up until then, I was having a great afternoon…. Now, I know you're thinking,** **_Wow, that was really irresponsible of him, blah, blah, blah,_ ** **but Paul knows me pretty well. He's seen me slice up demons and leap out of exploding school buildings, so he probably figured taking a car a few hundred yards wasn't exactly the most dangerous thing I'd ever done.**

“Most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?” Hercules asked offhandedly, hoping to prove that he was still the greater hero.

Poseidon looked up, hoping that Percy would answer so that he could gauge his son’s power.

Instead of immediately answering, Percy turned to one of his friends — the girl with the choppy hair, Piper.

“What would you guess?” he asked, a smirk on his face.

Piper shrugged. “I missed about half of all the stuff you’ve done. Maybe, if I was to go off of everything I’ve witnessed, the whole thing with the pit…” she trailed off, looking nervous, and Percy nodded tightly, his demeanor changing completely, putting an arm around Annabeth protectively.

Another one of the girls, the Lieutenant of Artemis, Thalia, perked up. “Blowing up a volcano.” Poseidon’s mouth dropped open. _The only way that would be possible, would be if Percy summoned an earthquake, which most of my children don’t have the ability to do._

Hercules narrowed his eyes at the group, but gestured for the reading to continue. 

**Anyway, Rachel and I were driving along. It was a hot August day. Rachel's red hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a white blouse over her swimsuit. I'd never seen her in anything but ratty t-shirts and paint-splattered jeans before, and she looked like a million golden drachmas.**

Aphrodite grinned. “Oh, that is _so_ cute!”

Percy let out a groan, covering his face, while Annabeth and Rachel laughed.

**"Oh, pull up right there!" she told me… "So." Rachel smiled at me. "About that invitation."**

**"Oh... right." I tried to sound excited… and here Rachel's folks were willing to let me tag along to the Caribbean.**

“And you were seriously considering this about a week before the prophecy started,” Annabeth said dryly. “How the world isn’t destroyed yet, I have no clue.”

“I was stressed!” Percy protested weakly. “And why don’t you blame Rachel over here? She was the one who invited me!”

Grover let out a laugh, sparing Rachel from what would be a very awkward conversation. “Yes, but you could have refused right then and there, saving Annie weeks of moping and heartbreak.”

Annabeth spluttered for a moment. “I was not _heartbroken._ And you can’t prove that I moped, you were missing!”

“Missing,” Jason repeated dubiously. “What parts of the war on your side did I not get to hear about and that you _conveniently forgot_?”

“Not much,” Nico noted. “Just a few life-or-death situations that I swear Percy could have avoided.”

“You were the one who turned me in!”

“Topic,” Athena called. All eyes turned to her. “I would like to remind you that we are here for a purpose, not to listen to a group of children ramble on about something that we will be reading about in the first place.”

“Killjoy,” Percy mumbled, and Poseidon managed a smile.

**Besides, I seriously needed a vacation… Still, something big was supposed to go down any day now. I was "on call" for a mission. Even worse, next week was my birthday. There was this prophecy that said when I turned sixteen, bad things would happen.**

“Bad things,” Leo hummed. “I see that you are one with words, Aquaman.”

“I’d like to know about this ‘call,’” Frank volunteered.

Percy shuddered. “Let’s _not_ go down that road. Let’s _really_ not.”

“Right, so, all we’ve heard so far is that you’re on call and that bad things are about to go down,” Hercules sighed, sounding immensely bored. “What is so _heroic_ about that?”

Annabeth glared at him. “You’ll see. Besides, you don’t get to talk about heroics.”

“After all, you wouldn’t be so _heroic_ or _still fucking alive_ without someone’s help that you completely and _oh-so-conveniently_ wrote out of your stories, and being a selfish, immature pile of mishandled horse shit, in the process, would you?” Percy asked, as innocently as he could. 

Piper and Jason both held back laughter as Hercules flushed. Probably out of rage. 

Artemis grinned, surprise and a small degree of satisfaction on her face.

**"Percy," she said, "I know the timing is bad. But it's always bad for you, right?"**

**She had a point.**

“I knew it!” Rachel crowed. “I always have a point!”

**"I really want to go," I promised. "It's just—"**

**...She'd even been there last summer when the chopped-up Lord Kronos rose out of his coffin in a terrible new form, and she'd earned my permanent respect by nailing him in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.**

Jason all but choked. “ _What?_ ”

“That’ll teach ‘em.” Rachel’s smile was smug as she went on, imitating the voice of Atlas. “Those ignorant _mortals_ , such stupid creatures.”

Annabeth shook her head, expression fond. “I’m sure it will.”

“And this was what the war was about?” Poseidon asked faintly. _Why can’t any of my children ever catch a break?_

Zeus’ reaction was more drastic. “Kronos?” he demanded. “That is who is rising?”

Percy exhaled. “Yeah. Definitely not my cup of tea.” After seeing Zeus’ expression, he hurriedly added, “But it’s passed. Remember that this is all in the past for us.”

“But _how_?” Hera asked. “He should have been spread too thin to ever reform!”

Annabeth gave her the stink eye, and it was Jason who ended up responding. "The impossible always happens to us.”

He quickly started scooting away from Hera’s death glare. “I’m lucky that she chose me as her champion or whatever. I forgot how her hatred felt.”

Thalia snorted. “Welcome to the club.”

**She put her hand on my arm. "Just think about it, okay? We don't leave for a couple of days. My dad..." Her voice faltered… Rachel was into urban art projects and feeding the homeless and going to protest rallies to "Save the Endangered Yellow-bellied Sapsucker" and stuff like that. I'd never even seen her wear a dress. It was hard to imagine her learning to be a socialite.**

“Imagine,” Rachel muttered. “You don’t have to do _that_ anymore.”

“I feel bad for you,” Hazel agreed, frowning for a moment. ”Actually, I feel bad for anyone who’s gone to school in general.”

“Why?” Athena asked, narrowing her eyes. “Many in this time period cannot go to get a basic education, and yet here you are, complaining?”

“School is mandated, from where we come from,” Annabeth stated. “It’s useful, but most times, it’s harder for demigods, because we have to deal with monsters, our ADHD, dyslexia, and then parents as well as schools not understanding.”

“Women get an education, though, correct?” Artemis queried.

Annabeth nodded. “Most women do in the country that we come from, yes.”

Athena and Artemis shared a smile at this.

**She sighed. "He thinks if he does a bunch of nice stuff for me, I'll feel guilty and give in..."**

**...She pursed her lips. "Look, just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple of normal people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together."**

“And we all know where this goes,” Aphrodite commented, barely able to hide her amusement, having noticed that Percy and Annabeth seemed to be in a relationship.

**I could tell something was bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made her hair look like fire.**

Percy sighed, and Annabeth patted him on the back in consolation, snickering behind her hand.

“You’re mean,” Percy informed her, not lifting his head.

**We'd spent a lot of time together this summer...**

**"Okay," I said. "Just a normal afternoon and two normal people."**

**She nodded. "And so... hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"**

“ _Rachel_ ,” Annabeth sighed, in an attempt to act stern.

“Aren’t you jealous?” Piper asked her curiously. “Seeing as, you know, she tried to make a move, and you and Percy are together.”

The daughter of Athena shrugged. “We’ve gotten over it. Rachel’s a good friend now, and all of that stuff.”

Rachel faked outrage. “The disrespect! After everything, I’m still just considered a ‘good friend’ and ‘all of that stuff?’”

Aphrodite made a few disappointed noises at this. “I was hoping for some resentment to still be there, like a never ending drama.”

“How about no.”

**"Oh..." I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows—slow, dumb, and bright red. "Um..."**

**… She was so much easier to be around than... well, than some other girls I knew. I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or wrack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt.**

“That’s an insult to my cows,” Apollo announced, with all the grandeur of a middle-school play.

He was ignored by everyone in favour of Annabeth’s expression.

“Rude,” Annabeth said at last. “But also, I guess kind of true at the time.”

“Very true,” Percy corrected. “And still sometimes true nowadays.”

Poseidon started reading again before Annabeth could retaliate, a small smile on his face.

**I'm not sure what I would have done next... four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a WUMP-WUMP CRUNCH!**

“So _that’s_ where the dents come from,” Frank realised. “I was wondering about that.”

 **_Hey, boss,_ ** **a voice said in my head.** **_Nice car!_ **

**Blackjack the pegasus was an old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the craters he'd just put in the hood; but I didn't think my stepdad would be real stoked.**

“He wasn’t mad, at least,” Percy grinned.

**"Blackjack," I sighed. "What are you—"**

**Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get a lot more complicated… The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos's evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went** **_flush_ ** **.**

“My brother,” Leo noted, with a small ounce of sadness in his voice, and Percy winced.

“Yeah,” he responded softly.

Leo clapped his hands to snap people out of their reverie. “Okay. We all know what happens.” He paused for a moment. “Well, some of us do. But can we take a second to appreciate the ingenious involved in that contraption? Deadly toilets? That’s amazing!”

Percy managed a smile. “Yeah. It really is.”

**Beckendorf was dressed for combat… "Time?" I asked.**

**He nodded grimly.**

**A clump formed in my throat. I'd known this was coming. We'd been planning for it for weeks, but I'd half hoped it would never happen.**

Percy tapped a finger nervously on his knee.

“So this is the thing that you were ‘on call’ for?” Frank asked.

“Yes.” Percy’s voice was flat.

**Rachel looked up at Beckendorf...**

**"Oh, hey. I'm Beckendorf. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me... uh, I** **mean he mentioned you."**

“Oh wow, gee thanks,” Rachel snorted.

 **Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves** **against the hood of the Prius. "So I guess you guys have to go save the world now."**

**"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed.**

“Don’t we always,” Jason sighed.

There was a chorus of “definitely” and “unfortunately.”

**I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom—"**

**...Rachel kissed me before I could even react. "Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."**

Aphrodite squealed excitedly, and Annabeth looked like she was refraining from banging her head into the ground.

**My last view of her was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching as Blackjack circled higher and higher, carrying Beckendorf and me into the sky…**

**Beckendorf chuckled, and together we soared out over the Atlantic.**

“At least you lived long enough,” Rachel pointed out helpfully.

“Thank the fucking gods that I did,” Percy muttered.

“Can we just circle back to the fact that _Rachel_ kissed _Percy_?” Jason asked, seemingly in shock. “How the heck can Annabeth just sit there so calmly while we read about this?”

“As I said, we got over it,” Annabeth grinned.

“The reason Joson’s asking is because if Piper finds out someday that Reyna and him got all cutesy together, Beauty Queen would charmspeak him into running around camp in his underwear,” Leo snickered.

Reyna shook her head. “Leonidas, I would absolutely _never_ , and if I hear otherwise, _I_ will be the one asking Piper to charmspeak you into ‘running around camp in your underwear,’ as you so kindly said.”

Reyna elbowed him in the stomach to prove her point, and Leo coughed loudly. “Duly noted,” he wheezed.

**It was almost dark by the time we spotted our target… Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant figurehead—a dark haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped in chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry.**

“Andromeda,” Hercules echoed. “Like Perseus’ wife?”

“Yes,” Annabeth hummed.

Hercules suddenly sat up straighter. “Does this mean that things are named after Greek persons?”

Annabeth sighed, but nodded, getting his point. “I can say that yes, there are things named after you.”

“Unfortunately,” Thalia muttered.

“And that would be because...” Hercules asked. “You are my sister, are you not?"

Thalia scowled. “I’d sooner eat my own hand than call someone like you my brother.”

“I’d assume that you know why some of us hate you,” Jason said, having heard the story many times over from Percy as he lamented over not being able to punch Hercules in the face and not remembering to ask Jason to do it due to some sort of foggy brain.

Jason _would have_ argued that Percy’s brain was always kind of foggy, but he didn’t want to have to deal with a flooded cabin every hour or the shower water _mysteriously_ running cold every time he visited camp.

“You’re a son of Zeus, too,” Hercules pointed out, and Jason winced, remembering what Hercules had told him at the Pillars.

“Not all demigods turn out like you,” Percy shot back. 

“Though Zoe wouldn’t agree right now,” Thalia muttered. “You ruined her entire life, how could she not?”

“Zoe was fine afterwards,” Hercules snapped. “You know this, because you keep talking about her, so you’ve obviously met her!”

Percy stared at him incredulously. “And we know her well enough to be able to say that she _was not fine_ after you abandoned her!”

Artemis, who had mostly refrained from interacting with the group, decided to intervene. “I agree with Perseus, unfortunately. Zoe was ‘definitely not okay’ after we found her.” Her tone was final.

Thalia raised a hand. “I would like to add that Zoe, for thousands of years to come, will agonise over not being able to sock you in the face at least once in her life.”

“She mostly takes it out on all the guys that she sees,” Grover said helpfully.

Poseidon would have argued that it was all for nothing, because Hercules’ face did not, in any way, change, except for maybe a little more anger directed in Percy and Thalia’s direction.

And _maybe_ a bit of hard thinking was going on, but it was gone before anyone noticed that it was there.

And _maybe_ he should’ve warned his son that Hercules was definitely not a good enemy to make, but by the way everyone was acting, Poseidon was reasonably sure that they all knew it, they had just elected to ignore it.

Which was fine to him. But the children wouldn’t be so okay once they decided to take a break because Hercules would surely demand some sort of fight to prevent his fragile ego from shattering which would _definitely_ not end well and gods above, why did Poseidon care so much about whether or not the group was in pieces? The only one that he really had to care about was Percy, right?

_What a strange bunch._

**Seeing the ship again twisted my gut into knots. I'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda… But I also knew this was our best chance to end Kronos's invasion before it ever started.**

Many eyes turned incredulously to Percy.

“We put the fate of Olympus into the hands of a few _kids?_ ” Athena cried. “How far gone is this war that we’ve decided to let _kids_ decide our fate? In what universe is that strategical, or in any way going to turn the tides in our favour?”

“Try telling that to Zeus,” Annabeth sighed. “He was the one that wanted Olympus to be closed in the two wars we fought in.”

“Closed,” Poseidon repeated, turning to Zeus. “I never thought I’d say this, but Athena is right. How far gone are you that you’d let kids fight for us, then decide that Father’s rising is something to close Olympus for?”

“I’m sure I had a reason,” Zeus said, but his voice was unsure. “I guess that’s the whole point why the kids and the books are here. It’s to change all of this, and make sure that this doesn’t happen a third time.”

“There’s no way all of us would survive a third war,” Percy agreed. “Not all of us survived the first, nor the second.”

Jason coughed, turning towards Leo, who subsequently shrank away from all of the gazes now on him. “At least I came back?”

“At least you came back at all,” Annabeth conceded. “Even though we’re all mad that you d—”

She was cut off, and all of them groaned.

“Even though we’re all mad that you left in the first place,” Piper finished.

**"Blackjack," I said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck."**

**… I figured he'd rather have his mane braided like My Little Pony than** **be back here again.**

“Vivid imagination,” Grover noted.

Percy faked hurt. “I can’t believe that after all these years, you _still_ hadn’t noticed that about me.”

Grover rolled his eyes, gesturing for the reading to continue.

**"Don't wait for us," I told him.**

**_But, boss—_ **

**"Trust me," I said. "We'll get out by ourselves."**

“Just how did you plan on doing this?” Piper asked. “There is no way you’d get out of there alive.”

“Son of Poseidon, remember?” Percy responded.

“What about Beckendorf?”

She got no reply.

**Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet… I climbed off, feeling queasy.**

“There are too many of them,” Jason shuddered. “I don’t think that even you could fight off this amount.”

“You didn’t get something like this?” Percy questioned.

Jason looked over at Reyna, who gave him a thumbs up. “Our war was mostly just storming the mountain, with small attacks in between.”

Percy gaped at him. “Where do I sign up? I could have saved so much time and effort!”

“Look on your arm, dumbass,” Nico sighed, but his voice was fond.

Poseidon exchanged glances with Hades and Zeus. It was rare that children of the Big Three could be in a room together, and here, there were five, acting like literal brothers and sisters.

(He didn’t count Hercules, even though he was ever present, sporting possibly the grumpiest expression to ever exist. The guy was a ticking time bomb, and there was a 99.99% chance that he’d explode in Percy’s face.)

 **_Good luck, boss,_ ** **Blackjack said.** **_Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!_ **

**With that, my old friend flew off into the night. I took my pen out of my pocket and uncapped it, and Riptide sprang to full size—three feet of deadly Celestial bronze glowing in the dusk.**

“Riptide.” Hercules stared at the pen that Percy was playing with, and Percy looked over from where he was playing some sort of game with it with his friends.

“ _Anaklusmos_ ,” Percy said, a small smile on his face. “And yes, it is the same one that Zoe gave you.” He proceeded to uncap it, waving it around for good measure, almost smacking Leo in the face with the flat of the blade as he did, Leo jumping back with a yelp.

“I see that you can’t use it very well,” Hercules noted dryly, and Percy smirked, leaning forward.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Percy paused dramatically before laughing and almost falling over as Jason and Thalia cackled next to him. “I actually can use it reasonably well—” at this, Thalia coughed loudly, “—it’s just that when I’m around friends, I like to mess around with it.”

Percy proceeded to wave Riptide around some more, before Annabeth shoved his shoulder and he fell forward, almost off the couch they were sitting on.

“That was just rude,” he grumbled, but he re-capped Riptide.

**Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. I thought it was a map or something... Even with all the dangerous missions, Beckendorf had been happier this summer than I'd ever seen him.**

“‘Duh, you guys like each other,’” Thalia repeated. “Any of that sound, oh, just a _tiny_ bit familiar?”

“Not this again,” Annabeth and Percy groaned in unison.

“No, wait, I actually want to hear the story of your great big love story some time,” Piper laughed.

“It’s gotta be PG-13 for Hazel,” Jason teased.

Annabeth shot them a glare, which only made Piper laugh harder, before Annabeth cracked and she started laughing as well.

“You’ll read about it, and I doubt there’s anything inappropriate,”

Aphrodite butted in. “Is it in detail? When does it begin? Can we skip to that part?”

“ _Mom_ ,” Piper groaned.

**"We'll make it back to camp," I promised.**

**For a second I saw worry in his eyes. Then he put on his old confident smile.**

**"You bet," he said. "Let's go blow Kronos back into a million pieces."**

“The curse,” Percy muttered, all traces of laughter gone. “It was impossible."

“It’s a good thing you listened, then,” Nico remarked.

“What curse?” Athena queried. “There’s only one that I can think of, but all who have tried it have…”

She trailed off as she realised. “No. That’s not possible. It can’t be.”

Percy’s nod gave her the answer that she needed, and the goddess whirled around to face Zeus. “We’re all doomed.”

“Which is where Percy’s decision comes in,” Nico noted, but didn’t elaborate.

Poseidon felt a small shiver go down his spine, though he had no clue why.

**Beckendorf led the way… "I don't care what your nose says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice—a telkhine. "The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meat loaf sandwich!"**

**"Meat loaf sandwiches are good!" a second voice snarled. "But this is half-blood scent, I swear. They are on board!"**

“Shit,” Frank whistled. “That is not good.”

“We were lucky that the telkhines were too stupid.” Percy shook his head. “The only reason why I made it out alive was pure luck.”

Hazel snorted. “Just where was this good luck while we were on the Argo II?”

Percy seemed to ponder it for a moment before shrugging. “Probably on vacation. It was summer, after all.”

“Overactive imagination,” Grover repeated.

 **"Bah, your** **_brain_ ** **isn't on board!"**

The teens all burst out laughing.

“Thank the gods,” Hazel muttered. “Now you have a chance at succeeding.”

 **They continued to argue, and Beckendorf pointed downstairs... F** ******inally we came to a metal hatch. Beckendorf mouthed the words "engine room."**

“He’s not going to do what I think he’ll do, is he?” Leo asked, voice faint.

“He is,” Hephaestus rumbled. “There’s no guarantee that he’ll make it out alive, but at least they’ll have tried.”

“He won’t make it out alive,” Poseidon realised, and Percy winced.

“He won’t.”

**It was locked, but Beckendorf pulled some chain cutters out of his bag and split the bolt like it was made of butter… He had the head of a Doberman, but his clawed hands were almost human. He growled and muttered as he tapped on his keyboard. Maybe he was messaging his friends on uglyface.com.**

“How do you come up with these things?” Reyna sighed. “I swear, you’ve never voiced these weird ass thoughts, and I’m kind of sad that you never did."

“They wouldn’t have made him prae— fine, leader, of our camp if he did,” Jason grinned.

“Imagine all my thoughts about Octopus the Panda Pet Slayer,” Percy huffed, faking a shudder. “He’d have gutted me like a teddy bear.”

**I stepped forward, and he tensed, probably smelling something was wrong...**

**"One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go."**

“How nice,” Hercules deadpanned.

 **He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid—Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world. Then he threw me another** **essential tool of demigod heroes—duct tape.**

“What is he going to—”

Leo had paled mid-sentence, and exhaled forcefully, as if shaking something out of his mind. “That’s not good.”

**"Slap that one on the console," he said. "I'll get the turbines."**

**…The boat kept chugging along. Being the son of Poseidon and all, I have perfect bearings at sea. Don't ask me how, but I could tell we were at 40.19° North, 71.90° West, making eighteen knots, which meant the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn.**

“That’s so cool,” Jason grumbled. “Why can’t I have perfect bearings while floating in the sky?”

 **I had just attached a second jar of Greek fire to the control panels when I heard the pounding of feet on metal steps—so many creatures coming down the stairwell I could hear them over the engines. Not a** **good sign.**

**...I charged out the door.**

“The whole mission is doomed,” Poseidon groaned.

“It really was,” Annabeth agreed. “There should have been a back-up plan.” She turned towards Percy. “Why didn’t the war council come up with something better?”

“We were all too busy preparing for the battle to properly come up with something,” Percy pointed out. “Imagine having a repeat of the Colchis Bulls from my second year. We would be all dead.”

Hephaestus grunted, not looking up from a small machine that he was working on. “They’re supposed to be friendly to demigods.”

“But they weren’t, because our lives are just that messed up,” Grover sighed.

No one argued.

**A half dozen telkhines were tromping down the stairs. I cut through them with Riptide faster than they could yelp.**

“Excuse me?” Thalia asked. “Little shit, who gave you the right to get so good?”

“I did,” Percy huffed. “It’s rude of people to think otherwise.”

**I kept climbing—past another telkhine, who was so startled he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. I left him alive—partly because his lunch box was cool, partly so he could raise the alarm and hopefully get his friends to follow me rather than head toward the engine room.**

“That is the most idiotic and also smartest plan I’ve ever heard,” Athena sighed. How the demigod was still alive, she had no clue.

“A Lil’ Demons lunch box, though,” Thalia snorted. “They need better taste.”

“I liked it,” Percy protested. “That’s part of the reason why I left him alive.”

“You need better taste, too.”

**I burst through a door onto deck six and kept running… clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragon's throat (and yes, unfortunately, I speak from experience).**

“I’m just not going to question it,” Rachel decided.

“It’s better if you don’t,” Grover agreed.

**Back on my first visit to the Princess Andromeda, my old enemy Luke had kept some dazed tourists on board for show, shrouded in Mist so they didn't realize they were on a monster-infested ship… I hated to think what had happened to them, but I kind of doubted they'd been allowed to go home with their bingo winnings.**

“Luke?” Dionysus asked, sounding bored.

“A son of He— fine, a demigod who became the hos—” Annabeth groaned. “Fine, a demigod who switched sides, who I was pretty well acquainted with.”

“He died a hero,” Percy said firmly, and no one argued, even though Hercules and Zeus looked like they wanted to.

“So either a son of Hermes or Hephaestus,” Athena mused.

 **I reached the promenade, a big shopping mall that took up the whole middle of the ship, and I stopped cold… Its beady black eyes glared at me, and I** **could see intelligence in them—and hate. The fact that I was the son of the sea god was not going to win me any points with Mr. Crabby.**

“Respect the sea creatures,” Poseidon sighed.

“Not if they’re my enemies,” Percy shrugged. “If they try to kill me, or are in league with those that want to kill me, they don’t deserve my respect.”

**"FFFFffffff," it hissed, sea foam dripping from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like a garbage can full of fish sticks that had been sitting in the sun all week.**

Piper gagged. “Okay, not to be one of those stereotypical, squeamish Aphrodite kids, but that is a disgusting thought, and I’d like to never hear that again.” She hadn’t realised that she was using charmspeak until the entire group nodded, eyes slightly glazed over.

“No promises,” Percy grinned.

A little bit away, Aphrodite wasn’t trying to hide the fact that she was openly about to throw up.

“Maybe your imagination needs a little toning down,” Grover suggested to Percy.

“Nah.”

 **Alarms blared. Soon I was going to have lots of company and I had to keep moving… I dashed back outside, breathing heavily, but Mr. Crabby** **turned and followed.**

“Oh, no!” Leo exclaimed dramatically. “Not the t-shirt rack! Not Mr. Crabby!”

“He’s not going to appreciate your calling him ‘Mr. Crabby,’” Poseidon told Percy, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I knew that.”

“You definitely didn’t,” Thalia grinned.

“I totally did, what are you talking about?”

**"There!" a voice said from a balcony above me. "Intruder!"**

**...I tried to remember anything from the old stories that might help with this thing. Annabeth had told me about a monster crab—something about Hercules crushing it under his foot?**

“Something like that,” Hercules said, grinning smugly. “I’m glad I’m still remembered, even thousands of years into the future.”

Percy tried, and failed, to throw a pillow at Hercules’ head.

“They’re called throw pillows for a reason, right?”

**That wasn't going to work here. This crab was slightly bigger than my Reeboks.**

“Only slightly,” Jason snorted.

 **Then a weird thought occurred to me…** **The only problem was getting to the ugly belly.**

“The ugly belly,” Annabeth sighed. “How the fuck is a stomach, you know, ugly?”

 **I glanced at the fountain, then at the marble floor, already slick from scuttling crab tracks... Water sprayed everywhere, three stories** **high, dousing the balconies and the elevators and the windows of the shops.**

 _So Percy is powerful,_ Poseidon noted. _Not all of my children can control the water that well._

**The crab didn't care. It loved water. It came at me sideways, snapping and hissing, and I ran straight at it, screaming, "AHHHHHHH!"**

**…I jabbed Riptide into the chink in its armor, let go of the hilt, and pushed myself out the backside.**

“Was the screaming necessary?” Annabeth asked.

“Yes.”

**The monster shuddered and hissed. Its eyes dissolved. Its shell turned bright red as its insides evaporated. The empty shell clattered to the floor in a massive heap… Riptide, being magic, would appear in my pocket sooner or later, but for now it was stuck somewhere under the wreckage of the crab, and I had no time to retrieve it.**

“Not good,” Jason groaned.

“You’re doomed,” Piper agreed.

“I really appreciate the support here, guys.”

Percy was answered with a pillow shoved at him.

**In the elevator foyer on deck eight, a couple of _dracaenae_ slithered across my path… They held spears and weighted nets, and I knew from experience they could use them. **

“When did you find out?” Reyna questioned.

“A year before the first war,” Percy said. “When things seemed less complicated, where all I had to do was trek through a labyrinth and fight to the death in an arena.”

“And deal with three— wait, no, four, including Ca— Leo’s girlfriend, four people having a crush on you and you being oblivious as frick,” Rachel smiled.

“Don’t remind me.”

“I’m more concerned about the labyrinth part,” Poseidon groaned. “Is it…” he trailed off, seeing Rachel’s nod. “Another one of my sons in the Labyrinth? Why?”

“History repeats itself,” Percy told him, glancing at Hercules, who looked away.

**"What isss thisss?" one said. "A prize for Kronosss!"**

**I wasn't in the mood to play break-the-snake, but in front of me was a stand with a model of the ship, like a YOU ARE HERE display.**

“Break-the-snake?” Thalia asked, seeming interested. “Kelp-Head, I won’t deny that your brain needs some looking at but. This could be a really fun game to play with some of the new hunters.”

Artemis cleared her throat, looking worried. “No. Definitely not.”

“Why is everyone here such a—”

 **I ripped the model off the pedestal and hurled it at the first** **_dracaena_ ** **… "Get him!" she screamed.**

“Yep,” Hazel said, popping the “p.” “Piper was right. You are 100% doomed.”

**Hellhounds bayed… As I was running up the stairwell, a kid charged down. He looked like he'd just woken up from a nap… He couldn't have been more than twelve—about the same age I was when I'd first arrived at Camp HalfBlood.**

“Father is managing to recruit demigods at that young of an age?” Hades asked. “I have to say, if Zeus doesn’t grow a few brain cells and decide to _do something about this war_ , we are all dead, and there’s no way around that.”

“We almost were all dead,” Nico said. “If I hadn’t offered a plan…”

“We definitely would have all died,” Percy finished.

Hestia cleared her throat. “Did anyone even try to bring these demigods back onto our side?”

“Some of us,” Percy answered. “I tried to spare most of them during fights, which almost caused my death a few times, but, you know, you can’t just let innocent kids die.”

“Interesting,” Hestia smiled, turning back to the hearth.

**That thought depressed me. This kid was getting brainwashed—trained to hate the gods and lash out because he'd been born half Olympian. Kronos was using him, and yet the kid thought I was his enemy.**

“Exactly!” Percy exclaimed. “Look at me, agreeing with myself.”

**No way was I going to hurt him. I didn't need a weapon for this… "If you want to live," I told him, "get off this ship now. Tell the other demigods." Then I shoved him down the stairs and sent him tumbling to the next floor.**

“That was a bad move,” Hercules told him flatly. “He’ll raise the alarm, and you’ll die.”

“The alarm was already raised,” Percy pointed out. “Besides, what was I supposed to do? Kill him?”

“Yes.”

**I kept climbing. Bad memories: a hallway ran past the cafeteria. Annabeth, my half brother Tyson, and I had sneaked through here three years ago on my first visit.**

Piper frowned. “You did?” 

“We did,” Annabeth confirmed. “Not my cup of tea, but at least no one died on there, back then.”

“We almost did, though,” Percy added. “Only escaped because Hermes had given me a magical thermos the first time, then escaped a second time because the Party Ponies and Chiron saved us.”

“I gave you a magical thermos?” Hermes asked.

Dionysus looked up from a vine that he was growing. “Party Ponies?”

Percy nodded, turning to Hermes. “Yeah, it was to save your s— okay, maybe not that, it was in return for a favour that you wanted me to do for you on my quest, which I kind of epically failed, but got a participation reward for, anyway.”

“Okay?” Hermes tried. “But then why would I give you stuff if you failed?”

“It was something that couldn’t really be done,” Percy explained. At this, Hermes nodded, looking confused.

“Sure.”

Percy frowned at Dionysus, trying to come up with an explanation for the Party Ponies. “I kind of don’t know how to explain it, but uh. They’re centaurs? Chiron’s brothers with an unhealthy addiction to alcohol and parties?”

“They sound fun,” Dionysus noted dryly, though Percy noticed how his teeth were clenched, and he remembered that Dionysus hated all heroes, holding them accountable for what happened to Ariadne.

Well.

Shit.

**I burst outside onto the main deck. Off the port bow, the sky was darkening from purple to black… My water powers would protect us both, and we'd detonate the charges from a quarter mile away.**

“That’s not happening,” Jason guessed. “There’s no way that’ll happen with your luck, and you’re, for lack of a better word, completely, and utterly screwed.”

“And then these punks will all be dead, which is nice and all, but then we’ll miss all of the fun gory war parts, and that would be awfully boring,” Ares snorted.

“Thank you _so_ much for your faith in me,” Percy deadpanned. “Wouldn’t want you getting bored.”

Ares glared at him, and Percy grinned back.

 **I was halfway across the deck when the sound of a voice made me freeze. "You're late, Percy." ...He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and** **flip-flops, like he was just a normal college-age guy, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold.**

There was a collective gasp from the gods, and Zeus cursed loudly, startling many of the demigods.

“Kronos has already risen and taken a mortal form?” Poseidon queried.

Percy met his gaze calmly. “Yes.”

“This is not good,” Apollo muttered.

“No shit,” Artemis grumbled from where she was talking to Thalia.

“It was more tolerable when all we had was a name and some vague details,” Hermes noted. “Now that we know that, hey, Grandfather is rising, and the proof is right there, none of us want to take action, and yet we’re all horrified, hence the incoherent screaming coming from Aphy.”

“Who the fuck is Aphy?” Reyna asked, knowing the answer as soon as the words came out of her mouth.

“It’s my mother,” Piper groaned. “Don’t know why she insists on using that nickname. It sucks.”

“The more important matter is that of the Crooked One,” Athena told them. “Not what names Aphrodite insists on us calling her.”

“Yes, but he’s already scattered and gone, in our time,” Reyna stated plainly, drawing most of the Olympians’ attention. “And besides, none of the gods ever did anything in our time, anyway.”

“Too busy fighting off a threat that was a distraction because they couldn’t let their pride get stomped on by Typhon,” Percy complained. “We could have avoided so many deaths if the only gods assisting us weren’t just Hades, Demeter, and Persephone.”

“Typhon is rising as well, then?” Zeus was quick to ask, and after he had gotten an answer, he sat up straighter on his throne. “Then all of us should be helping to defeat him, rather than help you guys fight.”

“Not how it works,” Annabeth muttered.

“It’s a matter of pride,” Demeter sighed. “Though it would be better if you all ate bread.”

“This is the ancient-Greek version of Demeter’s cereal obsession?” Nico whisper-asked Thalia, who shrugged, grinning.

 **"We've been expecting you for days." ...His voice** **became heavier, ancient, and powerful—the voice of the Titan lord Kronos. The words scraped down my spine like a knife blade. "Come, bow before me."**

“Also not good,” Apollo sighed. “He’s not only taken a mortal form, but also has recovered enough to do,” at this, the god paused, waving his arms around in the air, “all of his ‘tearing down Olympus bit by bit’ nonsense.”

“I’m more concerned about how he knew that you were coming,” Hephaestus said, worry crossing his face. “That would imply that he has a spy at your base of operations, and would therefore know your every move.”

“Which means that Beckendorf,” Leo began, swallowing heavily.

“He’s already a dead man,” Frank finished uneasily. “That’s why you’re the head counsellor for Cabin 9.”

**"Yeah, that'll happen," I muttered.**

“Please, for the sakes of us all, please be respectful,” Poseidon told his son. 

“Oops,” Percy sighed.

**Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue… A trap: there's no way they could've gotten into position so fast unless they'd known I was coming.**

“The spy,” Thalia groaned, abandoning her conversation with Artemis in favour of flopping down onto a couch, next to Percy. “Artemis is so _not fun_ ,” she whispered to him. “All my ideas have been shot down, and everything sucks.”

“Oh no,” Percy snorted. “Your dangerous ideas have been refused, the horror!”

He was promptly hit by a flying pillow.

**I looked up at Luke, and anger boiled inside me… I told myself it didn't matter. Luke had been twisted and evil long before Kronos possessed him.**

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” Annabeth sighed.

“I know that now,” Percy admitted. “I’m thinking it was the jealousy talking.”

“Wait, so Annabeth loved someone before Percy?” Piper questioned.

Percy’s “Yes,” and Annabeth’s “No, he was like a brother,” were spoken at the same time, and the couple glared at each other.

“Did you forget the time, on our first quest, when we IM’d Luke, you literally were trying to comb out all the dirt from your hair and immediately ran away when given the opportunity?” Percy teased. “I never thought I’d see the day that _that_ happened.”

Annabeth spluttered indignantly for a moment. “Did _you_ forget, how, as he was dying, Luke was all ‘my gods, did you love me?’ and I was like, ‘no, you were a fucking brother, I thought you knew that?’”

“Wait, so Percy, you aren’t jealous of the fact that Luke and Annabeth seemed to have _been a thing_?” Piper asked.

“Jeez, Piper, why are you so into our relationship and its finer details?” Percy laughed. “But nah, I’m not jealous.” At Thalia’s cough, he added, “Anymore. At one point, I was.”

“I swear, they’re meant to be,” Piper whispered to Jason, who nodded hurriedly, not wanting to be the one who Piper started talking to about their friends’ soulmates despite her insistence on not being an excited squealing fangirl of an Aphrodite kid.

On her throne, Aphrodite caught Piper’s eye and grinned.

 **A voice in my head said:** **_I have to fight him eventually. Why not now?_ **

“No,” Hazel sighed. “No.”

“I have to take Hazel’s side,” Frank agreed. “Percy _why_?”

“I literally just explained it in that one sentence that we read,” Percy protested.

“No,” Poseidon groaned. “That’s not how it works. If Kronos is inhabiting the body of a demigod and is walking, he is presumably strong enough to slice you into little pieces.”

**According to that big prophecy, I was supposed to make a choice that saved or destroyed the world when I was sixteen. That was only seven days away.**

“What?” Hercules yelled. “Thats—”

“Horrifying,” Zeus told the group dryly.

“I thought you’d react worse,” Percy said, tapping a finger on his chin.

“Contrary to popular belief,” Zeus sniffed, glancing pointedly at his brothers, “I actually can make decisions that are not spur-of-the-moment.”

“Sure,” Hades sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Besides,” Zeus continued, purposefully ignoring Hades, “There’s a choice that literally says, ‘hey, save the world, or destroy it.’ I’d rather keep you alive so that _hopefully_ , you’d make the right decision and not join the other side.”

“And also because Poseidon would murder you if you touched a hair on his son’s head,” Hades snorted. “Have you seen how attached Poseidon gets to his spawn?”

“You’re saying that as if you don’t,” Poseidon grumbled. “The only one of us without feelings is Zeus.”

“And also because trying to run away from prophecies will only make it worse,” Apollo added.

“And also because all of this has already happened,” Hercules muttered.

Percy clapped his hands together cheerfully. “That’s the whole point.”

**Why not now? ...Hey, I'd fought monsters and gods before.**

“First of all, that’s not how it works,” Apollo sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “And second, fighting Kronos is not the same as fighting a monster, though I do want to know which gods you’ve fought.”

Percy shrugged, voice nonchalant when he spoke. “It’s kind of the same. Anyway, for the list of gods, do you want the minor gods or the Olympians?”

“Olympians?” Apollo yelped. “Okay, right. I take back all my doubts about you not being the child of any prophecy. You are definitely the most crazy demigod that I’ve ever met.”

“How about which gods he’s gone against and won,” Ares suggested, looking interested.

“There’s kind of too many,” Percy noted. “But okay, I fought against you, Ares, and won at 12, fought against your sons, whose names I forgot, I think they’re named Fear and Fear? Or Panic? Wait no, that’s Pan, maybe their names were Fear and Terror? Anyway, those dudes, and won, fought a few other minor gods, won, forgot about it, and I still don’t fully remember, and kind of recently, about two years ago, okay, maybe not that recently, I fought Hades and won, though that was with a curse or blessing or invulnerability, or whatever you want to call it.”

There was a tense moment of shock and silence before Ares exploded.

“ _You_ . Fought _me._ At _twelve._ And _won_.”

“Yeah. Mostly out of pure luck, though.”

Frank whistled. “That’s why dad hates you so much.”

“Yeah,” Percy sighed. “He’s threatened to beat me into a bloody pulp so many times over the years that he kind of feels like just another Clarisse.”

“You’re really asking for death, now,” Ares grunted, but sat back down with a grudging amount of respect for how the kid had _supposedly_ beat him and yet still remained humble and admitting that it was a matter of luck.

He still was going to curse the kid— wait, no, he wasn’t able to, the words were stuck in his throat, and no matter how many times he tried to say them, they wouldn’t come out, and he realised that it must have been the Fates at work, similar to how the kids weren’t able to say these “spoilers.”

He contented himself by conjuring up a knife and stabbing it into a spot on his throne, imagining that it was one of those demigod upstarts, maybe that Jackson kid’s face.

“Can we talk about how he beat _my father_ in a fight? That’s scary.” Hazel said.

“It was terrifying,” Nico agreed. “I feel like everyone always talks about the time he fought Ares, but gods, he fucking fought Hades and _won_.”

“To be fair,” Percy mused, “With Ares, Annabeth and Grover were there to witness it all, and from them, news spreads pretty fast. With Hades, though, you were the only one who witnessed it, and uh. Well, you’re very. Quiet. A little demon who sneaks around dumping fucking truckloads of strawberries in his friends’ faces.”

“He what?” Jason echoed, sounding horrified.

“Dumps strawberries in his friends’ faces. Baskets and baskets of them.”

“It was one!” Nico protested. “It was just one basket, it was for a dare, and plus, you can control water. I’m reasonably sure—” he paused. “Wait a minute. Can’t you control blood?”

Percy looked extremely uncomfortable, but nodded. “Yeah. Not my favorite thing to do, but I’ve done it to monsters and minor gods before.”

“Then you could have controlled the strawberries.”

“Why the fuck didn’t I think of that?”

Poseidon froze. “Percy, you can control _blood_?”

“Yeah.”

“None of my children have been ever able to do that before,” Poseidon exhaled. “That’s—”

“Not good,” Zeus decided, turning to Percy. “You better not have turned sides, boy.”

“I didn’t, by the way?” Percy tried. “But thanks anyway?”

“But controlling blood,” Poseidon muttered, mostly to himself. “That is very unusual, and I doubt that’s something my kids are supposed to inherit.”

**As if reading my thoughts, Luke smiled… Kronos's weapon appeared in his hands—a six-foot-long scythe, half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel.**

“Shit,” Poseidon cursed. “That’s not good. One touch, and that thing severs your soul from your body.”

“There’s no way that’s true,” Percy said slowly. “I—”

Poseidon groaned. “You touched it, didn’t you.”

“At least you didn’t get cut by it,” Hazel remarked hopefully. Seeing Percy’s expression, she sighed. “I’m scared to ask now, but did you?”

“Maybe.”

**Just looking at the thing made my knees turn to Jell-O… Kronos smiled, swirling his scythe at normal speed and waiting for me to creep toward my death.**

“So you’re slowed down, fighting Kronos, and hoping that his stupid scythe doesn’t kill you,” Hercules summarised. “How nice.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not,” Percy noted.

“It’s sarcasm,” Hercules sighed. “Why would I want to intentionally wish almost certain death upon someone?”

“Reasons.”

 **I tried to fight his magic…** **_Hey, ocean_ ** **, I pleaded.** **_Any day now would be good._ **

“I doubt that would work,” Leo sighed. “Though you get points for trying.”

“But then again,” Thalia said, “It’s also Percy.”

“Should I feel offended or not?” Percy asked.

“Nah.”

**Suddenly there was a wrenching pain in my gut... The water revitalized me, breaking the time spell, and I lunged forward.**

“How the fuck did that work?” Leo asked, grinning. “Though I’m not complaining. That’s awesome!”

**I struck at Kronos, but I was still too slow... I leaped back, and the evil blade missed by an inch, cutting a gash in the deck right between my feet.**

“Would it pain you to be more careful?” Annabeth sighed. “You know, with a little bit more planning involved?”

“I doubt I’d have the time to plan out a whole battle strategy like you always do,” Percy told her, grinning dorkily. “Though, thanks for the suggestion.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes at him fondly, ignoring her mother’s gaze.

**I kicked Kronos in the chest. He stumbled backward, but he was heavier than Luke should've been. It was like kicking a refrigerator.**

“You got a hit in on the Kronos!” Thalia cheered.

“Why do you make it sound like I’m a video game character?”

“More importantly, how do you know what kicking a refrigerator is like?” Leo questioned.

“What is this ‘refrigerator,’ and what is this ‘video game’ that was mentioned?” Athena queried.

Percy ignored Leo, turning to Athena instead. “A refrigerator is a box that keeps things cold, mostly food items, from spoiling. A video game, I guess, is like an interactive play in a box? Where you can control the characters?” he tried to explain.

Athena nodded, looking slightly irritated that a son of Poseidon had answered her, and yet looking slightly satisfied that she now knew a little more about the future.

**Kronos swung his scythe again. I intercepted with Riptide, but his strike was so powerful, my blade could only deflect it. The edge of the scythe shaved off my shirtsleeve and grazed my arm.**

“What the actual fuck, Percy,” Jason groaned, about to ask the main question everyone had on their minds. “How the fuck did you survive that?”

“I almost didn’t,” Percy answered cheerfully. “And I have no clue, either.”

**It shouldn't have been a serious cut, but the entire side of my body exploded with pain… I could feel my strength, my will, my identity draining away.**

“That’s what you meant,” Reyna sighed, voice calm and exasperated. “I should have known.”

Poseidon, on the other hand, looked like he needed someone to smack. “You shouldn’t have gotten hit.”

“This is only the first chapter,” Zeus told him. “Only the first chapter, and you’re already breaking about half of the Ancient Laws.”

“It’s not rule-breaking to want a son to stay alive.”

**I stumbled backward… There was no way he should've survived that.**

Athena looked like her suspicions had been confirmed. “The host took a dip in the Styx, didn’t he.”

“Yeah.”

“And yet brother dearest _still_ won’t participate in this war,” Hades muttered.

**Kronos laughed… "Luke had a big head," I said. "But at least it was his head."**

“Nice comeback,” Leo grinned. 

“Nice way of getting himself killed,” Annabeth corrected.

**"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused… "Perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives?"**

“How?” Hazel yelped.

“The spy,” Piper murmured, feeling dread trickle down her spine.

**He looked down at the pool and called, "Nakamura!" ...I knew him, of course: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. I'd saved his life in the Labyrinth last summer, and in return, the little punk had helped Kronos come back to life.**

“You need to be less merciful,” Hercules told Percy. “Maybe stop saving your enemies.”

“I can’t just _kill people_ ,” Percy protested. 

“You can if they try to kill you first.”

“Most of them were brainwashed and would jump at the opportunity to rejoin our side,” Percy countered, remembering Chris.

**"Success, my lord," Ethan called… Beckendorf had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms. His armor was gone and his shirt was nearly torn off.**

Hephaestus shifted uneasily.

“‘Just as we were told,’” Leo echoed nervously. “This spy of theirs must be deep into camp matters if they know every move about to be made.”

“They were,” Piper muttered, thinking of Silena. “It’s not looking good for anyone.”

**"No!" I yelled… Surely the monsters would've dismantled them right away.**

“At least you still have a chance,” Frank said, looking slightly hopeful.

**"We found him amidships," one of the giants said… "Er..." Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "He was heading in that direction. And he told us. His bag is still full of explosives."**

“He tricked them,” Hazel breathed. “But…” she trailed off.

**Slowly, I began to understand... The Greek fire might still be primed! But that didn't do us any good unless we could get off the ship and detonate it.**

Leo cursed under his breath.

**Kronos hesitated... If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, we would've all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.**

“So the plan might be working,” Reyna realised. “But it does you no good unless you can all get off...”

“Which Beckendorf won’t,” Hephaestus finished grimly.

**I could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger… If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. We'd never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill us first, or disarm the explosives, or both.**

Almost everyone was holding their breath.

“Shit,” Jason chanted. “Shit.”

**Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile… The wound in my arm was sapping my ability to think, but I muttered, "Communication device... spy at camp."**

“Even worse,” Thalia groaned. “S— The spy was literally involved in all of our plans. No one suspected her!”

**Kronos chuckled. "You can't count on friends…” I swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf's neck. I was in no shape to rescue him, and even if I tried, he would die before I got there. We both would.**

**Beckendorf mouthed one word:** **_Go_ ** **.**

**I shook my head. I couldn't just leave him.**

“That’s your fatal flaw,” Athena guessed. “Loyalty.”

Percy exhaled. “Yeah. Not the worst flaw to have, but also not the best.”

**The second giant was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf's left arm was free… Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch.**

“No,” Leo muttered.

“I had to witness his death once, do I have to hear it again?” Percy asked shakily.

“I think you do,” Annabeth sighed, reaching out a hand to grasp his tightly.

**I had no choice… I pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship—toward the water a hundred feet below.**

“And then Beckendorf…”

“He knew what he was doing,” Leo said, voice shaky, but firm.

**I heard rumbling deep in the ship… Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.**

Any hope that anyone had of Beckendorf being alive was gone. 

“And still, none of the gods did anything,” Percy muttered bitterly. “It’s a good thing that I’ve made peace with him, or else I’d be probably dying over here.”

“You say that as if you aren’t dying on the inside,” Annabeth sighed, squeezing his hand.

**Beckendorf, I thought.**

**Then I blacked out and sank like an anchor toward the bottom of the sea.**

“This the end of the chapter?” Percy asked.

Poseidon squinted at the page for a moment, then nodded. “You kids need a break?”

Zeus hissed something at him, but he willed his brother to understand.

_The children literally just re-witnessed the death of one of their friends, it’s only the least we could do._

“Yes,” Annabeth answered. “If we’re allowed to?”

“I see no reason not to,” Hades added, and Zeus groaned, but nodded anyway.

“Thank the gods,” Thalia proclaimed.

“Literally,” Rachel added, laughing. “Let’s go do some exploring!”

Zeus’ protest was drowned out by the cheers of the other demigods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to thank r/rareinsults
> 
> ANYWAY  
> i have no excuses except for the fact that school started up again and i wanted this chapter to actually be somewhat decent  
> so  
> correction: no good excuses

**Author's Note:**

> For the longest time, I've wanted to read one of these where the characters read about the war(s) that was actually somewhat decent, with actual grammar and correct spellings, and the closest I ever got to the type that I like was [this one](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11024113/1/The-Battle-of-Manhattan) on ff.net
> 
> But it hasn't been updated in approximately five years, so yeah, I was very inspired to write one, but with my own twists and turns.  
> There's also [this one](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15293550/chapters/35480184) which I absolutely adore, on ao3, which inspired me so much that
> 
> *spreads hands dramatically*  
> Here we are!
> 
> and feel free to message me or add me as a friend or whatever on Discord (i'm @ TᕼIᔕᒪIᒪᗩᒪIEᑎ#8347), anytime, because half my life is spent wasting away on there (oops)
> 
> (if you see anything that you feel isn't right, whether it's grammar, spellings, or, well, anything, let me know!)  
> 


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